Impact Alamance commits $750,000 to teacher professional development

Impact Alamance will invest $750,000 over the next five years in professional development for Alamance Burlington School System (ABSS) teachers and staff. One hundred and fifty thousand dollars will be invested annually over the next five years in several new initiatives directly tied to the community’s vision for education and the ABSS Strategic Plan.

Our goal with these investments is to demonstrate a significant investment public education through rewarding our best educators, inspiring and motivating rising leaders and enhancing classroom learning and engagement,” says Tracey Grayzer, president of Impact Alamance. Education ties directly to the health of a community and studies have shown a direct tie between education and physical and mental health outcomes.

The investments include an annual all staff event for the Alamance Burlington Schools to provide every employee with an opportunity for professional development. This year’s event, held on Monday, February 16, featured Ramsey Musallam, an educator and national expert on creativity and classroom engagement.

The most significant investment is in the development of a community-wide partnership to create a teacher leadership academy. ABSS, Impact Alamance, the Alamance County Area Chamber of Commerce, Elon University and Alamance Community College have created a year long professional development experience for local teachers. Fifty candidates will be chosen for the academy through a competitive selection process. One candidate from each school will be selected, along with 14 additional candidates throughout the district. Throughout the year, the teacher leader class will spend a full day visiting locations in Alamance County to learn about key tenets of the ABSS strategic plan. Topics include:

Personal leadership

Culture change

Peer learning communities

Community needs

High performing schools

Leading teams

Using data to drive results

The sessions will demonstrate how innovation, change and innovation have been implemented in the community and how these strategies can be applied directly to the classroom for improved student outcomes. Professional development will be taught by the community partners.

The teacher leader class will also have the opportunity to attend a two-day leadership retreat in June. Upon completion of the retreat, teachers will be eligible to apply for teacher creativity grants for their schools. These grants will be awarded by Impact Alamance through a competitive grants process. One hundred thousand dollars is allocated to allow teachers to implement creative and innovative projects or programs in the classroom.

“This is an excellent example of a public-private partnership designed to enhance public education and fulfill our community’s vision of creating world-class working conditions for our teachers,” says Dr. Bill Harrison, ABSS interim superintendent. “We believe this will become a model teacher leadership academy for North Carolina- and one that will provide great rewards for our teachers and our students,” he adds.